Angels With Even Filthier Souls
by Shadow Tigress a.k.a Kit
Summary: With the arrival of a new girl to Domino, new mysteries pop up, as well as a new, vengeful 'enemy'. But, when the Pharaoh discovers that he may have been friends with this enemy in the past, will he set things right or leave her trust betrayed?
1. Prologue

Kit: This is my first Yu-Gi-Oh fic, so be nice! I know this chapter may be a bit confusing, but bear with me, please...

Disclaimer: The things that the owner of Yu-Gi-Oh owns, I don't own. The things he/she/it doesn't own, I do! Any questions?

Disclaimer for Dummies: I no own; you no sue.

_

* * *

_

_Mokuba whimpered as he looked up at his brother's best friend. She looked down at him, tears in her eyes as well, "I know, Mokie, I'll miss you too," she bent over to hug him._

_He looked at her as he returned the hug, "Why do you have to move, Claire? Why can't you move in with us while your mom and dad move?" he begged her._

_She smiled at him, laughing through her tears, "Mokie, I wish I could, but I just can't."_

_Another voice joined theirs, sad just like his brothers, "I'll miss you, too."_

_Claire straightened her posture, her eyes falling across her best friend as he stood just a few feet away from her. For the first time in his short life of barely ten years, Seto Kaiba had tears in his eyes. Claire Hawthorne's eyes brimmed with the tears that she'd tried to hold back for Mokuba's sake, but now, they just fell, making shining tracks down her cheeks. As if on a perfect cue, they both threw themselves at each other, catching each other in simultaneous hugs._

_Claire sighed as she backed away from her best friend, inclining her head upwards slightly so she could look him in the eye, "Seto, I'm going to miss you, too." She said, trying to keep her voice steady, although it still shook slightly._

_Seto smiled down at her, although he didn't look at all happy with the glistening, crystalline tears that welled in his eyes,"I'll miss you, too, Claire. I know we'll see each other again someday. Somehow, some way, I'll make sure of it." He promised her._

_She smiled at him, looking over at her mother as she called to her, then she turned back to Seto, "You better hold yourself to that promise, Kaiba. You've never broken a promise to me, and I don't expect you to start now." She smiled at him, gave him a quick hug and then ran to her mother, "Good-bye to the both of you! I'll never forget you, I swear it!" _

_Seto watched her go, "You're right," he mumbled as the car she was in disappeared down the road. "I've never broken a promise to you, yet. And, I don't plan on starting…That I promise you…"_

* * *

Yuugi sighed as the bell rang and the whole class took their seats. The teacher was late, as usual. But, there was another thing that was unusual. Ryou Bakura was late; usually the English exchange student was on time. Either the English boy had a reason, or the apocalypse was coming and they'd all better bend over and kiss their butts good-bye. He hoped it was the first of the two choices and that they weren't going to die any time soon. 

Just as he thought this, the teacher came bustling in, a young girl following at his heels. Strange, he'd never seen her around here before. She must've been new here. Coming to that conclusion, he looked her over, looking over her clothes and other features.

Her hair was built of obsidian and raven hues, mixed with midnight blue. It fell to her ankles, hanging just inches from the floor, hanging loose and framing her small figure. Her eyes were the color of ruby gems, gleaming like the setting sun. Her skin was tanned exotically and showed no sign of blemishes or flaws. She wore a dark red short-sleeved shirt that stopped to show a bit of her midriff. A short skirt of the same color covered the top of shapely legs. Dark red high-heeled boots covered her lower legs and made a slight clicking sound whenever she walked. An ankle-length sleeve-less black leather jacket was worn over her clothes, but not buttoned or fastened up. A golden chain, barely noticeable unless someone was to really look, was clasped around her neck. Hanging from it was a ruby teardrop. It was the reddest ruby Yuugi had ever seen; it was almost as if it was crystallized blood.

She was abnormally quiet, never once saying a word when the teacher asked her if she was the new student and other questions. She just nodded here and shook her head there to answer his questions.

After a few more questions, the teacher turned to the class, "Class, this is Claire Hawthorne. She's an exchange student from China. I hope you all make her feel at home, or at least help her find a few of her classes." He said as he sat down behind his desk and bent over to pick up some books for her. He hauled them up, apparently having trouble picking them up on his own. He managed to stand up with the books in his arms and dropped them, not so gently, in her arms.

She finally made a sound. She gave a short, sharp yelp as she began to tumble backwards from the weight of the books. Everyone in the class looked on; some worried for her while others laughed silently at her plight. Thankfully, Ryou Bakura picked that time to come in. Eyes widening as she tumbled towards him, he dropped his bag and caught her by wrapping his arms around her stomach and bracing them by pushing one foot out slightly behind them. She blushed mildly as he set her back on her feet. He offered her a smile, as if to say, 'Your welcome' before he picked up his bag, swinging the strap over one shoulder and taking her books into his arms so she wouldn't fall again.

The teacher pointed at her desk, which was right next to Bakura's, but unfortunately, also next to Seto's…Or maybe that was fortunately..?

Later that day, Claire had, had the fortune of meeting the rest of Ryou's friends, or was it misfortune…? Joey and Tristan worried her…in more ways than one. Yugi seemed nice enough, but there was something about him that tweaked her senses the wrong way. Tea was…nice, in a friend-obsessed kind of way…Duke was…different….That was about as lightly as she could put it.

Joey had asked her if she knew how to play Duel Monsters, to which she gave him a grin and replied with a mysterious 'Maybe…Do you want to find out?' His eager reply came quickly as a yes and they joined two desks together to create a makeshift table.

The rest of the class, hearing Joey talking to her, came to see if she could beat him. After all, he was the Duelist Kingdom runner up. There was no way this small-town exchange chick could possibly beat him…Could she?

Halfway through the duel, both were down for the count, but Claire more so than Joey. His life points were down to 500, while hers were at a measly 300. Her chances were slim to none.

"Flame Swordsman, attack her Nightmare Mirror!" Joey declared excitedly, temporarily forgetting about the card she had face down on the field.

Claire grinned, "No, no, no, Joseph. You've activated my trap card, Mirror Wall!"

Joey's eyes widened, "Hey, no! That means Flame Swordsman's attack power gets cut in half!"

"Precisely, Joey, and that makes him perfect bait for my next card!" she paused to set a card down. "The Black Shadow Phoenix!"

Joey winced as his life points went down to 200, "Well, you can't beat me that easily, Claire! I sacrifice my Baby Dragon and bring forth the Red Eyes Black Dragon!"

Claire smiled, "Oh, however will I beat your all-powerful dragon?" she mocked horror and placed the back of her hand against her forehead as if she were about to faint.

"Yes, however will you?" Joey asked proudly.

"She was being sarcastic, mutt." Seto's voice floated from over Claire's shoulders. Joey looked up, and sure enough, standing right behind Claire (someone else had been standing there a second ago, but they must've moved for him) was Seto Kaiba himself.

"Indeed I was, very perceptive of you, old friend. In my 'last ditch effort to win', I play the Polymerization card to fuse my two monsters into an unstoppable beast, or at least unstoppable in this duel! And thus, I create the Nightmare Phoenix of Reflection!"

Ryou sighed, "That means you loose Joey." He told the blond.

"How did…She can't…But I'm the runner-up in Duelist Kingdom." Joey whined as he gathered up his deck.

Claire watched him, having already gathered up her own cards, "How, you ask? Easy, I'm the continental champion of China. That's how."

Yugi glanced at Claire before walking over to her, "Could I see your deck, Claire?" he asked her.

She glanced up at him apprehensively at first and reluctantly handed her deck over, watching him like a hawk as he went over the cards in her deck.

_Black Shadow Phoenix, Nightmare Mirror, Polymerization, Oracle Dragon of Darkness…Wait, just one cotton-pickin' minute! How did she…That card is…!_

Suddenly, Yugi plucked the oracle dragon card from her deck and showed it to her, "How did you get this card? Tell me!" he insisted. He was sure that there was only one of this card in existence, so how could she have it...?

Claire stared at him, "The Oracle Dragon came from…an old friend…"

Yugi glared at her, "Quit avoiding the question! Who gave you this, I want names!"

Claire glared at him, standing up to her full height, which meant she had to look down at him. She snatched the card from his hand then took back the rest of her deck. She shuffled the card into her deck and pushed the deck into her deckholder, then stomped back to her own desk.

Seto sighed, "You really want to know who gave her that Oracle Dragon, Yugi? I did. When we were younger, before she moved away." He stared at their shocked faces. "That's right; I had a friend when I was younger. And she was it." An angered and annoyed Seto stomped back over to his desk, several students scrambling to get out of his way.

Joey looked over at Yugi, "What is it, Yug? What had you so upset over that card?" he asked his friend.

Yugi sighed, "Joey, I've seen that card before, the same one. There's only one in the entire world, and three years ago I could've sworn I saw it burn in a fire…"

Tristan looked over at Claire, who had opened a book on her desk and was reading it, evidently trying to get her mind of the fight that had just happened, "Then, if it burned three years ago, then how could she have it…?"

_Later that day_

Yuugi sighed as he thought over the day's events; his thoughts kept coming back to the 'small disagreement', as he'd called it when he'd told Yami, that he'd had with the new girl that day.

_Are you alright, aibou? You keep thinking about that girl…I keep getting bits and pieces of the happenings of the day in my soul room. Who is she, aibou? And why are you thinking of her so much?_ Yami's gentle but deep voice floated through their mind link.

Yuugi sighed, trying to think up a way to explain this to the ancient spirit, _She's the new girl; you know, the one that I told you about today? She battled Joey today and beat him-_

He was cut off by Yami's deep laugh, _Well, aibou; Joey isn't all that hard to beat unless he's got his mind set on something._

Yuugi sighed, _That's not the main problem, Yami. There was one card that she had that surprised me._

He could see Yami's eyes flash in his mind's eye, _What card was it, Yuugi? Maybe I can look it up in the old scrolls in my soul room for you, just to put your wandering mind at ease for a while…_

To Yuugi that sounded like a good idea so he readily agreed, telling Yami of the card he'd seen. Yami shut off the mind link so he could concentrate for a while, and Yuugi was left with nothing to do.

At least half an hour later, Yami cut the mind link back on, _Aibou, I think you're going to want to see this…_

Minutes later, Yuugi stood outside both their soul rooms, looking up at Yami, who had a book in his hand.

Yuugi gave him a confused look, "What did you find, Yami?" he asked.

His darker half held out the book to him, pointing with a free finger to the picture on that page. In said picture was a huge dragon-like drawing, much like those he and Yami had seen on the stone at the museum. Yami then turned the page, and the picture was more realistic and gave more detail. A huge black dragon floated in the middle of the page. A black scale in the middle of its forehead rose over its head like a horn, and ruby red feather-like things shot out below and behind it, almost connecting it to the head. A red ruby rested in the middle of the part of the scale on its forehead. Twin rubies also decorated the juncture where the two black wings met its body. It had slim arms leading into paw-like front feet. Glove-like scales covered the fronts of the feet, twin rubies embedded in each of the scaly gloves. The rest of its body got slimmer as it got closer to its tail, similar to a snakes body build. Its tail split off into three ends, the outer two shorter than the middle one and ruby red in color. The middle one was black and the longest of all three of them. Forming under its right front foot was an orb of light, hues of black and red mixing as the orb formed.

Taking his eyes off the picture, he looked down at the information on the book, skimming through it lightly.

"_This is the Oracle Dragon of Darkness, one of the most powerful dragons in the game next to the Blue Eyes and other such dragons. This dragon is well-known for being the soul monster of a young priestess in Ancient Egypt, whose name is still not known to this day. It is known that the priestess was kind and a trusted member of the court, so why did she have such an evil and intimidating extension of her soul? Was this the true side of her that no one ever saw, or lived to see? _

_This dragon is used to bring forth the powers of darkness from the future, and sometimes can bring forth past darkness as well. This dragon has not been seen for centuries, just a drawing on the wall of a pyramid here and there, but nothing other than that. It is greatly rumored that this dragon is the harbinger of dark forces the pharaoh himself couldn't even stop. Another rumor tied in with this one is that the only one able to stop its great power after it had been called, was the priestess herself, or her secret love, High Priest Set…"_

Yami turned the page to allow Yuugi to read the rest. Much to his surprise, the next picture on the next page was of the young priestess mentioned in the earlier paragraphs. It was in color as well, which added to Yuugi's surprise. Long black hair cascaded long passed the end of the picture, leaving his imagination to guess where it ended. Bright ruby eyes were narrowed, a flame burning deep in her eyes. Her skin was almost a caramel color; her face completely flawless from the looks of it.

'_But, that looks like…?_' Yuugi thought to himself as he looked at the picture, awestruck, and then managed to come back from his stupor enough to skim through the paragraph below her picture.

"_This is the beautiful priestess mentioned earlier in the book. Her name is unknown, but rumored to be Clara, according to many scrolls found in tombs and the hieroglyphs on the walls of pyramids and other such buildings found in Egypt. She was a great and powerful priestess, very trusted by the pharaoh himself, which was almost impossible in that day and age. She was also the youngest of the priests and priestesses that served the pharaoh during his short reign, but she was also a force to be reckoned with, which no doubt earned her the favor of the pharaoh himself._

_Unlike the other priests and priestesses, she did not have the power of a millennium item. She received her power from a jeweled necklace passed down in her family for generations. It is rumored to have been some sort of gem stone, and the color of blood itself. It was likely to have been a garnet or a ruby, but to this day the necklace has yet to be found, so this theory is debatable."_

Upon closer inspection of the picture, Yuugi noticed a golden chain hanging around the neck of the young priestess. Hanging at the end of it was a large red gem stone, cut like a teardrop…It was the exact same necklace he'd seen on Claire earlier that day when she'd first entered the classroom!

Yami watched him, waiting for him to say something, "Have you found something, then?" he asked.

Yuugi looked up at the spirit of the pharaoh, "I think I may have…I think we may just have to pay this Claire Hawthorne girl a visit…"

* * *

Kit: Did we enjoy it? Did we hate it beyond all imagination? I WANT TO KNOW! REVIEW! I know if someone reads my story now, so don't get me ticked off by reading my story and not reviewing! 


	2. New Discoveries

Kit: I was satisfied with almost all of my reviews…All but one… But before I get to the argument, I will do my normal disclaimer and other such things. As for the story, I hope my other readers enjoy this chapter as much as you did the last.

Disclaimer: Anything that the owner of Yu-Gi-Oh owns, I don't own. Anything I own, the owners of Yu-Gi-Oh don't own. It's that simple.  
Disclaimer for Dummies: I no own; you no sue.

----------

(Quick Key-  
_Italics_- What Arrathir said.  
Normal font- What I reply.)

I have an argument to put up with the reviewer, Arrathir:

_Mary Sue Level: 100-_ I'd rather not justify this with a remark, thank you very much.

Evidence:  
_-foreign exchange student (FES complex)-_ I'm sensing an issue with foreign exchange students…? You want to go bother them just because they don't go to a school in their country, be my guest.

-_her name sounds nothing like a Chinese name would-_ It would help if she was born in China in the first place, dearie. Not to mention the fact that it would also be a good factor if her parents were Chinese, which they aren't. Go back to the first chapter and read the first part of the story in italics, that's called the 'Prologue'. Try again, hon.

_-unusual/flawless appearance described in detail taking up an entire paragraph-_ I'm descriptive, so sue me! You got a problem with it, learn to deal! Wait, on second thought, let me mention this as well. I was taught that readers like a lot of description so they can paint mental images. Forgive me for my stupidity. As for the 'flawless', this chapter gets more in depth with her past, making her not-so-flawless in actuality. I would hope that you would do your research properly before accusing me of something.

_-abnormal beauty-_ I admit, the way I described her may have come off a bit overly pretty and perhaps a bit showy, but I assure you she is just the same as everyone else. After all, it's not the outside that counts, it's the inside. (Their personality, for those of you with your heads in the gutter.)

-_automatically wins the duel against Joey- _I'll admit that Joey is a very good duelist, but every duelist has their day(s)…It's called 'Luck of the Draw', literally. Sometimes 'Lady Luck' just runs out on you; we've all experienced it. Even the best duelist can make a bad draw, not all of us have ungodly good luck. (I mean no offense to Joey fans. I like Joey just as much as the next person; I'm just not an avid fan of his.)

-_all the boys automatically like her-_ First of all, Tristan hasn't even met her. Isn't he a boy, or have I missed something? Here's my ten cents:

-Ryou- He just saved her from falling. Wouldn't you catch someone if they were about to fall into you?

-Tristan- I say again, he didn't meet her, therefore he can't like her. Unless he's not a boy…Shouldn't he be included in that 'all' you listed?

-Joey- He doesn't like her either, but then again, he doesn't hate her. She's neutral with him. Haven't you got three or four people on your list that you can neither hate nor like?

-Yuugi- He doesn't completely like her, nor does he trust her because of the mysterious card he found in her deck. Just as with Joey, she's neutral on his list.

-Yami (Atemu)- He hasn't even met her; he's just gotten flashes of the day from Yuugi's thoughts. Technically, he's a spirit, but he's still a boy, right?

-Seto- They were childhood friends…Joy for them. Don't you like your friends?

-Malik/Marik- He hasn't even met her, so why would he like her? Besides, once I get to that part of the story, they won't like each other. Why would I make my character like a character that even I don't like? (No offense to Marik fans, I know he's cute, but I think he's a psycho.)

-_has a past connection with a canonical character-_ So she was friends with Seto, is that a problem? She was also friends with Atemu in her past life. Are you going to get mad at her for that, too? A lot of other authors start off their stories with their characters having past connections with real characters in the series or book they are writing about. Are you going to go annoy them, too? She moved away and she and Seto were separated, that's like having to start anew. Believe me, I know. In her past life…Wait, that spoils part of the story…Never mind.

_Evaluation:_  
_This is your classic, sickingly perfect Mary Sue.- _I believe you need to rethink your facts, hon. You also need a dictionary. 'Sickingly' isn't a word, it's 'sickeningly'. (I have issues with improper grammar and misspelled words. Forgive me.) I'm sorry if I sounded a bit mean through the entire thing, but I wanted to get my point across and that's just the way I am. As much as I enjoyed the fact that you gave me reasons for your obvious dislike of my story instead of just telling me you didn't like and not giving reasons at all, I think it was incredibly rude to accuse my character (as well as me) of something before knowing the whole story. I would appreciate it that, next time, if you find something wrong with my story, you do ample research, and if I find that you are indeed correct, I will correct my mistake, but only then. (I know I must sound stuck up, but please believe me when I say that I'm not. It's just the way I am when I get angry.)

And that is all I have to say on said matter. Good day to you, my friends.

* * *

Claire fluidly made her way down the stairs at the sound of a knock at the door; "I'm coming!" she called as she landed lightly on the landing in front of the stairs. 

Having changed out of her earlier ensemble, she now wore a simple grey t-shirt and khaki pants. Her feet were bare and made little sound as she walked. Her hair was pulled back in a braid and then coiled atop the back of her head in a bun-like structure. The make-up she'd worn previously that day was no where to be seen and her face was completely free of any facial enhancers, or things to hide facial blemishes.

She slid to a stop in front of her door and fixed her clothing before pulling open the door.

"What do YOU want?" she muttered angrily, glaring down at the shorter form before her.

"I wanted to apologize for my attitude earlier today. I was just a bit surprised that you had that card." Yuugi told her softly.

She regarded him for a few seconds before she seemed to accept his apology, "Apology accepted. Would you like to come in?" she stepped to the side to allow him in.

Yuugi nodded quietly and stepped past her, waiting for her to tell him where to go.

She turned after she closed the door, "Go ahead and make yourself at home. Do you want anything? A drink, a quick snack?" she asked politely, just like any good hostess would.

Yuugi politely refused her offer. Upon closer inspection of her face (he'd been looking at her face when he'd refused her offer of food and/or drink) he noticed a small, light scar, a tone lighter than the skin around it. It ran from the length of the top of her cheek bone, to the bottom of her jaw. It was on the right side of her face and was barely noticeable, but he should've noticed it that day, shouldn't he? He also noticed that her complexion wasn't at all as tanned as it had looked with her make-up. Her face was a bit paler than the rest of her body, while the rest kept a healthy tan. Her complexion was uneven? He hadn't seen this coming.

"How did you get that scar? And how did you keep it covered up all day?" he asked, motioning to the scar with a quick movement of his hand.

She touched the scar briefly before answering him, "I got it…five years ago. In a little accident I had. It never healed correctly and thus I have the remains of it on my face. As for your second question, I used make-up. It's not that hard to cover up a faint scar. Concealer and base usually does the trick." She muttered in return.

Since that seemed like a hard subject for her, he decided not to push it. Shaking those thoughts off, he looked over at the clock, "I'm sorry, I've overstayed my welcome. It's late already. I need to go." He said quickly as he stood up.

Claire looked over at him, "Yuugi, you don't have to go, unless you have something planned already." She shrugged.

Yuugi smiled at her as he moved towards her door, "It's alright, Claire. I still have homework to take care of tonight before I go to bed, so I'll see you tomorrow?"

She returned his smile, albeit hers was smaller by a long shot, "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, Yuugi." She pulled the door open for him and bade him farewell as he left, closing the door softly behind him.

The next afternoon, Yuugi had just finished his last class and was looking for Claire. He'd heard from one of the upperclassmen that she was on the Color Guard. He already knew that they had practice every day after school on the football field, so he was headed there.

He carefully stepped past the football field gates a few minutes later, looking around for them. On the far side of the field, dressed in tank tops and shorts, stood the whole Color Guard, black and red flags in hand. He spotted Claire standing at the front of the group, stretching. Her hair was pulled back into a makeshift bun atop the back of her head, a few strands of her hair falling to frame her face.

Her flag was laid out beside her as she knelt down slightly on the ground. Her left leg was bent under her as she balanced on it while her right leg was stretched out to the side, the side of her shoed foot lying against the asphalt as she stretched her leg out. She stood up slowly and did the exact opposite of the position for a few minutes before she stood. She picked up her flag and turned to the rest of the Guard.

"Fall in!" she commanded loudly. Immediately, the talking ceased and all the students fell into the Fall In position.

She kept a steady beat by hitting the butt of her flagpole on the ground, "Band, attenhut!" ((A/N: She said 'Band' because when the Guard practices with the full band in marching, all the director says is "Band".)) The Guard's left foot connected with the right and their heels and toes came together. A few quickly fixed locked knees and pulled their flags up with both hands, trying to stay completely still.

"Ok, first we're just going to practice marching. Mark time four, forward march eight. Does everyone understand?" she said quickly. Yuugi was confused…All these Band and Guard terms were confusing…

"Alright…Mark time, mark up! One, two, three, four. And step, two, three, halfway, five, six, seven, line. Halt!"

The whole Guard did the sequence for a few times before Claire was finally satisfied, "Alright. Ten minute water break, go!" she shouted and the Guard dropped their flags in their places and rushed to their water coolers at the edge of the field at a leisurely pace. Claire set her flag down gently and walked over to Yuugi, who met her halfway. "Hey, Yuugi. What's up?"

Yuugi smiled at her, "You're pretty good at commanding them." He mused aloud, "Are you the Guard Captain?"

She laughed and shook her head, a few stray strands of obsidian hair swishing from side-to-side, "Nah, the Captain just gave me rule over the Guard for today because she couldn't be here for practice. Anyway, why are you here?"

Yuugi smiled, "Always cut to the chase. Anyway, I read in a book…a few days ago, that there was a priestess in Ancient Egypt that looked, this might sound a bit far-fetched, a lot like you. Identical, if you will. She also had that same gem that you wear around your neck. Care to tell me something?"

Claire face-faulted for a minute or so before she sighed, "Meet me at the Domino Museum later on today and we'll take a trip to the past with Isis's help. That should fill in a few of your blanks as well as a few of mine." She then abruptly turned around and headed back towards the Guard's spot on the field, "Fundamental Block, one minute!"

* * *

Kit: Did we like the second chapter, or not? I want to know. Review! 

Confusing terms-

1. Fundamental Block- The formation used in Band and Guard when you are practicing marching fundamentals with the full band or full guard. This is usually used to warm up sequences and refresh one's mind after a day or two of rest.  
2. Mark Time- The command used when telling person(s) to mark time with their feet before the start of a sequence so they can keep the beat while the march. This command is usually followed by a number. Ex.- Mark Time four.  
3. Forward March/Backward March- Command telling a group of people or one person to march forwards or backwards, depending on the term used. Can also be used with a number. Ex.- Forward March eight. Backward March sixteen  
4. Fall In- For the Guard, this is holding the flag out at half-arm's length with the right arm while resting the bottom of the flag pole on the ground while the left arm is held behind one's back, fist clenched.

Kit: How do I know all of this, you ask? I'm in Band, which answers that. I know what I'm talking about, so don't argue with me. Moving on, Review! Or I shall send Quito to make you cement booties! (I'm kidding.)


End file.
